Vero Beach, aka Velcro Beach, lived up to its reputation again. Our original plan was to be there for four days, which morphed into a week when we heard high winds were coming in. So we had seven days to visit with friends and finish our provisioning. As it turned out we were there for 17 days.

The first few days were busy with barbeques, provisioning, and finishing the little chores that need doing before crossing to the Bahamas. Not only did the weather turn cold and windy over the weekend, it rained. And rained. And rained. It rained almost every day for a week and a half. We were starting to get moldy, and I’m not talking about the boat! I was very glad to be on a mooring ball, safe in the gusty winds.

beautiful custom built private yacht

We were antsy to get moving and the Abacos were calling our name, but then we heard from Rick, the fellow who had gone on ahead of us and he advised it was lousy weather in the Bahamas and he wanted to come back to the States. So we hunkered down and got out our board games….board games for the bored!

The extended stay allowed for us to relax and spend more time with the crews from Escapade, Resolve and Last Mango, our companion boats from last winter. We did daytime bus excursions, potluck dinners, went on shopping trips and we helped each other with projects. One project saw Pat at the top of Escapade’s mast, changing out the VHF antenna. It’s a 65’ mast, but electric winches were a real help getting him to the top. I did get a picture of Pat way up there, but he just looks like a smudge in a picture of the sky. The new antenna worked great and Jon was again a happy camper, or should I say boater.

art deco condos in Lake Worth Palm Beach

Eventually a three-day weather window was forecasted and on February 1st about 25 boats left Vero Beach and headed south to Lake Worth where we stage to cross the Gulf Stream. It is a two-day trip down to Lake Worth from Vero Beach and it rained both days. The halyards and sheet lines that run across the coach roof into the cockpit were green with mold. It took some scrubbing to get them and the coach roof clean again. At 2 am on Sunday morning, as we looked across the anchorage, we could see steaming lights and running lights pop on. The sailors were ready to go…..the powerboaters had another 3 hours sleep ahead of them!

crossing the Bahamian Banks in flat calm

Our flotilla was about 15 boats, and we had newbies on Wind Swept IV close on our stern. This was our ninth crossing of the Gulf Stream and it was another good one. We motor-sailed until we reached the banks at 11:30 am and by then the wind had died completely. We dropped anchor in the dark at 7 pm on the western side of Great Sale Cay, happy to turn off the engine. The next morning at 6:30 we gathered the three boats in our flotilla that were willing to get underway that early and set sail for Green Turtle Cay where we could check in with Customs. By three in the afternoon, we raised the Bahamian flag and a glass of scotch to toast another winter in the Bahamas. At noon the next day we picked up our reserved mooring ball in Man-O-War and declared ourselves “home” for the next three months.

customized golf cart on Man-O-War Cay

It didn’t take us long to drop the dinghy into the water and take a ride into the settlement. We wandered around, meeting and greeting people we had met last year. Our friend David, the owner of the schooner William H. Albury that Pat worked on last year, met up with us and took us over to where they were working on the masts for the boat. David had some fellows from the Toronto Brigantine Inc. and they were doing a great job getting the masts ready to step. They are young men and are learning the rapidly fading art of restoring an old wooden boat. As of this writing, only one of the lads is still here and he is quite happy working with the chisels, glue and wood.

David with one of the masts for the William H

The museum/coffee shop is open again this winter and most mornings we take the dinghy down to the end of our anchorage, pull it up on the beach and walk the mile or so into the settlement. We visit with other boaters and the locals, anyone who will stop and chat for a while. As we walk around the area, we are a familiar sight to the residents who stop to welcome us back to their island paradise. Normally we would leave our mooring and head out to Marsh Harbour to shop or get our phone topped up. This year we have stayed on the island, shopped at their local grocery store and I can top up my phone online.

We did however meet up with six other boats that we know to attend the Song Writers In Paradise concert. Every year in mid-February, about 20 songwriters gather on Elbow Cay for a week and in the evenings they visit the various resorts on the island and do a jam session. These writers are big names in the country music scene though some of them, like Mark Bryan from Hootie and the Blowfish, have written music for Jimmy Buffett, Jewel and Lady Antebellum. We went ashore to the FireFly resort and found some lawn chairs and spent a couple hours listening to them play. It is quite an evening as this is not something that usually happens here. Once back at the boat, we realized we could hear them just as well from there!

We have been working steadily, doing chores that should have been done long ago. The bowsprit repair is now completed, the louvers on the front cabin door are fixed, the non-skid on the decks has been repainted and various other small items are done. Our only problem is that the impeller in our dinghy engine is toast and there are no spares in the Abacos. I ordered a couple of kits in Fort Pierce and since we have company from home arriving tomorrow from there, they are bringing the kits with them. We have been rowing around a lot and our neighbor here is lending us his dinghy to take with us when we go into Marsh Harbour in the morning. All this means we will be on the move for the next ten days, showing them around our winter home. Should be a great week, there is a lot to see.

Until next time…………….

- Longtime CY staffer Lynn Lortie and her husband Pat left Midland the summer of 2016 to make their way into the Great Loop and head out on a three year sailing odyssey. Follow their progress right here in CYOB.

A favourite destination for many boaters and tourists alike is the lovely Mackinaw Island. Sitting in Lake Huron on the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac in the state of Michigan, it covers almost ten kilometres, of which 80% is park land. It was a sacred place of the Anishinaabe and home of the Gitche Manitou (Great Spirit) some 700 years prior to the arrival of the first Europeans.

According to legend, the Island was created by the Great Hare, Michabou, and was the first land to appear after the recession of the Great Flood.

I think my favourite program was Bonanza. I would rush home after school, get my homework done, clean up the dishes, and then I would watch the ol’ West come alive with those three handsome, funny brothers who thrived on adventure.

At the time, I thought that the adventuresome West - and the pioneers who could handle just about anything thrown their way - was the stuff of make-believe.

We will probably look back on 2018 and 2019 as the years when power boats were reinvented by the combined forces of a booming U.S. economy and the wide-spread development and introduction of so many amazing new outboard engines. The result has been the development of many remarkable new designs!

One of the most inventive designers and builders is Jeanneau, and the NC 1095 is their new flagship outboard cruiser by Centkowski & Denert Design.

Lagoon has been building catamarans for too long to make a false move. That’s why when the management felt that their tried-and-true 450 model, long a cruising favourite and winner of transatlantic events such as the ARC, was getting near retirement age, they went back to a team that has designed many successful models for them: Nauta Design for interiors and VPLP design with Patrick le Quément for naval architecture and exteriors.

We spoke with Nauta Design’s Massimo Gino about his work with Lagoon.

“Along with the many custom superyacht projects we do, we have been collaborating with Lagoon since 2009.

Grounding is always an interesting idea when on a boat. Can a boat be ‘grounded’ when it’s in the water?

Electrical ground is a term used to describe the reference point in an electrical circuit from which voltage is measured, a common return path for electric current, or a direct physical connection to the earth.

Connection to ground is also important in order to trigger protective mechanisms in the event of failure of internal insulation, and also limits the build-up of static electricity.

Watch for a tsunami of innovative new boating products in the chandlery this year, as accessory manufacturers battle for your attention and dollars.

This past decade has been a real up-and-down ride for the companies who make boating equipment. When the recession hit in 2008/2009, new product development for most manufacturers ground to a sharp halt as they focused on more pressing issues, like simply keeping the lights on. It took a few years for the economy to stabilize and for the first handful of new items to begin slowly trickling out to market. For guys like me who make a living writing about new boating gear, those were pretty lean years, let me tell you.

You most likely operate your vessel with batteries that are rechargeable. Rechargeable batteries account for nearly half of worldwide battery sales. Within the rechargeable battery category, there are many different types of chemistries that are used. The most proven type of chemistry is the lead acid chemistry.

Wet cell or “flooded” batteries and Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) batteries are both considered lead batteries and contain an electrolyte solution which causes a chemical reaction and produces electrons. These batteries are recharged when put in contact with a reverse current. But, given the way they are designed, they each have their own pros and cons and these variations should be considered before use.

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